Members of the Fast 4 Families Across America Bus Tour will stop in Spokane on Thursday to give a presentation and hold a press conference on immigration reform and pathways to citizenship.
People across the country have signed up to join the fast, following the examples of Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. According to the Fast 4 Families website, the fast hopes to send a message to elected leaders, urging them to address “the moral crisis of an immigration system that fails to comport with our national values, our creeds and belief in justice.”
In June, the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration bill (S.744). Now, the bill is in the hands of the House of Representatives. However, the vote has been continuously delayed.
Fast for Families reignited the immigration debate last November when Fast for Families leaders Dae Joong (DJ) Yoon, Rudy Lopez, and others, abstained from all food, except for water, for 22 days at the National Mall. Joined by faith, labor and immigrant rights leaders and thousands across the country who fasted in solidarity, the movement drew national attention, including the support of President Obama, members of Congress, and national civil rights leaders.
On Thursday at a 10:30 a.m. press conference at City Hall, Lopez and Yoon will be joined by Spokane constituents and leaders – including Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, the Rev. Todd F. Eklof of the Unitarian Universalist Church, and David Brookbank and Stephanie Fuentes of OneAmerica – to discuss how the current immigration policies are impacting families, and will address “the moral urgency for reform.”
They will also speak at Gonzaga’s Foley Library at 6 p.m.
Bishop Blase Cupich, of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane and Mariachi Arriba Jalisco are expected to attend.
The “Fast for Families Across America” bus tour – covering 18 states and more than 14,200 miles – kicked off in Los Angeles on Feb. 24 and is targeting 75 key congressional representatives and mobilizing advocates from across the political spectrum, according to a press release.
